NJ News Commons 
TOMS RIVER — Searchers on Saturday morning discovered the body of a 79-year-old woman, who was reported missing earlier this week in Toms River, police said. There were no signs of foul play in the death of Martha Hesse, according to a statement from Toms River police. Volunteers with Toms River Fire Companies 1 and 2…
ASBURY PARK — Authorities took in 120 guns Saturday and handed out $7,025 in the latest Guns for Cash program held in Monmouth County. The event allows people to hand in weapons in exchange for money without having to answer questions about how the gun was obtained, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement…
WASHINGTON — Civil rights lawyer Katherine Hartman withdrew Thursday from the race for the Democratic nomination against Rep. Tom MacArthur, citing the time needed to raise enough money to compete. Hartman said she would have to spend eight to 10 hours a day for 13 months in order to fund a viable campaign, time better spent…
TRENTON — Eliciting wild applause and chants of “thank you” from a gathering of families at the Statehouse, the state Senate Thursday gave final approval to legislation that would impose tougher scrutiny on the operators and employees of group homes for people with developmental disabilities. The 32-0 vote sends the “Stephen Komninos Law” to Gov. Chris…
MADISON — Another 181 pets from Puerto Rico are on the path to finding new homes in New Jersey after Hurricane Maria tore through the island, thanks to St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center. A plane with 146 dogs and 35 cats arrived at Morristown Airport early Thursday morning. It was the fifth animal airlift from Puerto…
TOMS RIVER – Two Toms River police officers were in the right when they shot at a man who attacked one of the officers after he was found hiding in a bathroom closet of his apartment in March, officials announced on Thursday. One of the officers, Francis Bopp, fired a shot that ended a struggle between…
MERCER COUNTY – Burger and taco fans will soon have Shake Shack and Surf Taco to choose from in Mercer County in the future. Surf Taco, a popular Jersey Shore “Surf Mex” restaurant, will continue its march inland this fall with a new shop in the Princeton Shopping Center, in Princeton. The taco company opened a…
I’m beginning to think that a career at Goldman Sachs may not be the best preparation for a career in New Jersey politics. We saw that back in 2000 when Goldman gazillionaire Jon Corzine was making a run for U.S. Senate. Unfamiliar as he was with the complexities of ethnic politics here in the most diverse…
TOMS RIVER — They’ve called each other names before, and it continued Wednesday. Gov. Chris Christie had an angry response when asked about Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto’s statements that he broke a promise and diverted millions meant for preschool education and tuition aid grants to his $200M opioid plan drew an angry response from the governor.…
WOODLYNNE — A woman has been charged with beating her boyfriend to death with frying pans, authorities said. Maleia Cole, 33, was charged Saturday with murder in the killing of 35-year-old Jason Lewis, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday. Lewis was found conscious, but with injuries to his head and face that left him bleeding…
This year it’s Taco Wednesday — because today is National Taco Day. On Wednesday, Oct. 4, restaurants in New Jersey and across the nation will be celebrating National Taco Day with taco deals ranging from 50-cent tacos to a $5 taco gift set at Taco Bell. Like Starbucks not offering any deals on National Coffee Day,…
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury on Tuesday watched video footage of a man with a backpack dragging two small suitcases down a street last year before a bomb went off, injuring dozens of people. The cameras in Penn Station and on the street outside trailed Ahmad Khan Rahimi as he walked downtown toward the Manhattan…
TRENTON — With Election Day just five weeks away, a new poll shows Democratic nominee Phil Murphy leads Republican Kim Guadagno by 14 percentage points in the race to succeed Gov. Chris Christie — a tighter margin than those in recent similar surveys. The Monmouth University Poll released Tuesday shows 51 percent of likely New Jersey…
OLD BRIDGE — A school bus driver was suspended Tuesday after a video surfaced showing the woman reading messages on her mobile phone while driving with students on board, according to the bus company. The video, posted Tuesday morning in a private Facebook group created for parents in Old Bridge, showed the woman driving the bus…
MARLBORO – The driver of an SUV was killed Monday night when the vehicle veered off Route 18, crashed into trees and overturned, police said. Officers who arrived at the scene around 8:32 p.m. discovered the Nissan Xterra on the southbound side of Route 18 just north of the Route 79 overpass, Marlboro police Capt. Frederick…
A 2-year-old boy was killed after his father crashed an SUV while speeding away from arrest after he was caught shoplifting at a Walmart in Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. Christoper J. Kuhn, 27, of Hamilton, Mercer County, paused briefly to look at his son lying in the road after the three-vehicle crash and then…
NEW YORK — October had barely begun at Yankee Stadium, yet Luis Severino was finished. Booed heavily as he walked off the mound in Tuesday night’s first inning, the young right-hander had recorded just one out and yielded two home runs, throwing the Yankees into a three-run deficit. Almost instantly, the Yankees answered back. In the…
OCEAN COUNTY — A New Jersey man who cracked his skull and suffered brain injuries after slipping on an icy Seaside Heights sidewalk more than three years ago settled his lawsuit for $750,000, according to a report. Thomas Donovan, 56, of Toms River, lost his footing on untreated ice and snow Feb. 16, 2014, while he…
LONG BRANCH – The man who died after he was pulled from the ocean off Seven Presidents Park on Sept. 23 has been identified as a 34-year-old Piscataway man. Weining Liu was on the beach, which is a county park, with his family when he went swimming and became distressed from the currents, Long Branch police…
Attending Holy Rosary Grammar School and going to Holy Rosary Church in Jersey City meant that as a child I prayed the rosary – a lot. We’d say the rosary in the classroom, have rosary rallies and pray all 15 decades of the rosary at all-night vigils in church. The rosary has a kind of sing-song…